Virgin Atlantic to seek coronavirus taxpayer bailout next week

Virgin Atlantic and Jet 2 planes at Glasgow Airport after Prime Minister Boris Johnson has put the UK in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)

Struggling Virgin Atlantic is set to ask the government for hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers money to help it stay afloat during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Almost all staff at Virgin Atlantic have accepted unpaid leave and Sir Richard Branson has said he will inject $250m of his own fortune into the Virgin group, including the Virgin Voyages cruise line, the Guardian reports.

The airline is entirely long haul and passenger focussed, which means travel bans in recent weeks have hit the carrier hard.